The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called on all pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine because hospitals are seeing a surge of unvaccinated pregnant women becoming severely ill with the delta variant of the coronavirus.
Per The Associated Press, pregnant women often have a higher risk of severe illness from the coronavirus. Expectant women also have complications from the coronavirus, too.
- Those complications can include stillbirths and miscarriages, the AP reports.
Is COVID-19 vaccine safe for women?
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for pregnant women.
- ’’The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people,” Walensky said.
Recent CDC data found that 2,500 women did not have an increased risk of miscarriage for those who had one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine by 20 weeks into their pregnancy, according to The Associated Press
- The miscarriage rate was around 13% — which is the normal range, according to The Associated Press.
Why COVID-19 vaccine is important for pregnant women
Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat said in May that the CDC had some data about pregnant women and the vaccine, but the CDC expected to have more in the summer, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Schuchat said the vaccine is an important protection for pregnant women since pregnant women suffer from severe COVID-19, according to CNN.
- “Women who are pregnant and get COVID to have worse experiences with the infection than do non-pregnant women,” Schuchat said, according to CNBC. “More time in the intensive care unit, more risk of severe outcomes including those rare deaths. COVID also complicates pregnancy by increasing the risk of prematurity and leading to other types of complications.”